


Why Nick?

by badwolfrun



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Episode: s05e24-25 Grave Danger, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 19:42:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17607749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfrun/pseuds/badwolfrun
Summary: Once again some lunatic decides to nearly end Nick Stokes' life and it’s not about him, and Grissom is the one to tell him about the man who's responsible.





	Why Nick?

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this on tumblr during a serious bout of grave danger feels.

“Do you know a man named Walter Gordon?” 

Nick furrows his brow in concentration, his eyes shut tight, trying once again to match that gravelly, disembodied voice on the tape to a face, but instead he’s left in the dark, and he has to open his eyes before the green dirt fully materializes behind his eyelids.

But the voice still remains front and center in his mind, asking him, “ _you wondering why you’re here?”_

“No,” he shakes his head, and Grissom takes a deep breath, pulling a stool over to sit next to the hospital bed. Nick had twisted his arm, practically begging him to tell him about the son of a bitch who did this to him, and finally won.

“His daughter, Kelly Gordon, is currently serving a three-to-five sentence for accessory to murder.”

“I-I don’t remember a Kelly Gordon, either,” Nick mutters. Grissom gives him a small, sad smile.

“It was a day shift case, Nicky. The CSI who handled the case transferred out a year ago. What happened to you, it was just…”

“Bad luck,” Nick gulps, averting his eyes from Grissom’s gaze, staring at the threads on the blanket over his legs. He feels his bottom lip quiver, his tongue pokes out, brushing over his dry lips before it retracts back into this mouth, to collect the words of the same question he asked three years ago.

“Where is he now?” 

Silence hangs in the air for a few moments, and Nick forces his eyes to meet Grissom’s once more. His mouth hangs open in shock at the crumpled expression on his mentor’s face, whatever he’s about to tell him has affected Grissom in a way he’s never seen before.

“He…blew himself up. I…went to pay the ransom and he blew himself up…” Grissom finally says. His voice lowers, almost to a whisper, “…and left us with nothing.”

As Grissom sits and ponders…whatever happened between him and Gordon, Nick takes a moment to reflect–as if he hasn’t done enough of that in the last day and a half–on the name to the disembodied voice.

Walter Gordon. An older voice, a father’s voice. It makes sense now, why the voice on the tape was so cruel. Whether his daughter was truly guilty or not, he obviously cared for her so much that he wanted to avenge her, to take someone else’s child away and put them in a prison cell, to make them see how it feels. 

Cause he understands now, that’s what the coffin was meant to be, a prison cell. Solitary confinement, with the prison guards shining a light in his face every two minutes to make sure he was still awake and suffering. 

It doesn’t make it right, what he did to Nick, and Walter Gordon is now added to an exclusive list of hated people in Nick’s life…but at least he has an explanation for one thing, cause he knows he will never get an explanation to his next question. 

“Why me?” he asks, more to himself than Grissom at this point, because he knows fully well it’s not about him, it’s  _never_ about him. He even knows that’s exactly what Grissom is about to tell him–

“Nick,” Grissom’s voice is sharp now, the previous softness once again hardened to the tone that Nick is used to hearing. He snaps Nick out of his trance as he grabs Nick’s shaking, balled up fist that was clutching the blanket so tight his knuckles were white. 

“What happened in that box…everything…just…” He’s never seen Grissom struggle to form a complete sentence, tears begin to pool in the corners of his eyes as he looks at this new Gil Grissom trying to offer words of comfort to a man who could really just use his advice. 

Grissom seems to sense this as well, because he clears his throat, clutching Nick’s hand tighter, his eyes red in exhaustion as he looks Nick directly in the eyes and says, “Don’t take it with you.”


End file.
